2012 ECAC West Tournament
The 2012 ECAC West Tournaments took place in February and March 2012. =Men= =Women= The regular season champions were the RIT Tigers. It was RIT's second straight regular season championship, going 23-1-1 overall and 16-1-1 in-conference. The seeds for the tournament are: # RIT Tigers # Plattsburgh Cardinals # Elmira Soaring Eagles # Oswego Great Lakers # Neumann Knights # Potsdam Bears The Buffalo State Bengals, Chatham Cougars, Utica Pioneers, and Cortland Red Dragons failed to qualify for the tournament. Quarterfinals RIT and Plattsburgh received byes into the semifinals, leaving #3 to host #6 and #4 to host #5 on Saturday, February 25. Potsdam at Elmira Going into the penultimate weekend of the regular season, Elmira controlled their own destiny, needing only a single win in the two-game series against RIT to secure the regular season title. Instead, RIT swept the Soaring Eagles and took the conference championship, dropping Elmira to third place. Elmira's 2012 quarterfinal game was eerily similar to their 2011 game. In that game, Elmira got 53 shots on Utica's Marissa Hotaling but scored only once, lost the game, and were left out of the NCAA tournament. In 2012, Elmira again peppered the net, this time shelling Potsdam's Jen Conophy with 47 shots, including 20 in the third period, but again only one puck went through. That one goal wasn't enough, as Potsdam scored twice on just 13 shots to advance to their first ECAC West semifinal matchup. Potsdam advanced to play RIT. Elmira exited early for the second straight year, and likewise fell out of national tournament contention for the second straight year. Neumann at Oswego This game was a reversal of the 2011 matchup, with Oswego hosting instead of Neumann. This one wasn't nearly as close as 2011's double-overtime nail-biter, though; Oswego dominated in shots on goal, getting the game-winner on the power play with just one second left in the first period. The Lakers tacked on two insurance goals in the second. Oswego advanced to play Plattsburgh. Semi-finals The teams were reseeded for this round. The championship weekend was March 3 and 4 at RIT. Potsdam at RIT For the second year in a row, #1 RIT faced a #6 seed that had just knocked off Elmira the week before. Like Elmira, RIT initially had trouble solving Potsdam's netminder, pouring 29 shots onto net in the first two periods. Only one snuck past Conophy, however. The goal was scored by sophomore Kourtney Kunichika in the first. Potsdam tied it up on a breakway in the second, the result of a giveaway in the Bears' zone that Jenn Crawford took up ice and put in past RIT's Ali Binnington. But in the third, the Tigers came out firing on all cylinders. Kim Schlattman scored just 28 seconds in, and RIT followed up with three more goals in the next eight minutes to take a commanding lead. By the time the sixth and final goal went in at 14:17 of the third, the final result was already a foregone conclusion. RIT advanced to its second straight ECAC West championship game. Oswego vs. Plattsburgh Despite outshooting Oswego 34–18, Plattsburgh netted only one goal. That was enough, however, as Sydney Aveson pitched the shutout for the Cardinals. Plattsburgh advanced to face RIT in the final for the second straight year. Final Plattsburgh at RIT Plattsburgh is appearing in its 11th consecutive ECAC West final, though they have won only two, in 2005–06 and 2006–07. Previously this season, the Cardinals handed RIT the only blemishes on an otherwise perfect season: a 1–1 tie followed by a 3–1 win on home ice in Plattsburgh. This game was a goaltender's duel, much like the previous year's championship tilt. Both RIT's Laura Chamberlain and Plattsburgh's Sydney Aveson made save after save. Chamberlain, in particular, had to come up big in the second period, as Plattsburgh outshot the Tigers 10–2, scoring once to tie the game at 1. Despite the disparity in shots, though, RIT kept pressing through the end of the period; Kim Schlattman brought the puck around behind the Plattsburgh net and dished it out in front, where it glanced off of Kourtney Kunichika's skate and trickled past Aveson into the net with less than a second on the clock. Kunichika's power play goal proved to be the game winner as neither team could score in the third. RIT wins its second straight ECAC West championship and earns the league's autobid to the NCAA tournament. Plattsburgh receives a Pool C bid into the tournament, unlike last year when they were left home due to upsets in other conferences. All-Tournament Team Category:ECAC West tournaments ECAC West